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Forensic Investigators Break Down The Most Disturbing Cases They've Ever Worked On

Forensic Investigators Break Down The Most Disturbing Cases They've Ever Worked On

Forensic investigation isn't easy. Watching dramatized television crime shows and listening to crime podcasts makes the people who are interested in such information, myself amongst them, think that working in forensics would be a fascinating and enviable job...

But when Redditor u/CosmicLlama9908 asked forensic investigators about the most disturbing and horrific cases they've worked on, everyone quickly realized that the field is no joke.


Warning, the following are true stories shared by forensics specialists. They are NSFW, and may contain triggering topics.

20. "I took a police class and..."

"I took a police class and we were shown real pictures of crime scenes from our professor who was a philly detective. One of the most brutal ones we saw was this woman who got mauled by her boyfriends pit bulls in a basement. Her skin was ripped open and there was blood everywhere. Can't imagine the pain she was in, it was nuts."

mmorgquinn

19. "They rushed him to the hospital..."

"My uncle is a retired Chicago cop. One day, he had a case where a little 5 or 6 year old kid had been offered a small ziplock bag of about 2 grams of crack. The kid must have thought the crack was sugar because when the kid the next morning, the bag was covered in Batman stickers, about 1 gram of the crack was gone, and the parents realized he wasn't breathing. They rushed him to the hospital where the doctor told them that their son died of an overdose."

SquareCows

18. "The only reason the car was investigated..."

"My father worked at our local airport. A girl had decided to commit suicide in the long term parking lot there. She laid down in the trunk and covered herself in whatever was back there after taking an overdose of medication.

She wasn't found for roughly 3 1/2 months. The only reason the car was investigated was because several people complained of an over powering caustic smell. This was mid June or July. Dad said when they popped the lock on the door a cloud of black flies could be seen exiting the vehicle even on the security tape.

When EMTs came to remove what was left of her a few vomited. She was described to me as a gelatinous mass of purple and green. A scraper has to be used to get all the remains."

weedbetterknot

17. "He always said the worst were..."

"My father was a firefighter for over 30 years and had to investigate causes for some fires.

He always said the worst were the two or three people a year who would smoke while using the nasal oxygen things. It was almost always compounded by them being on a mattress.

He responded to one where the spouse reached in to try and pull them off the bed by the arm but the skin just slid off.
Also apparently the smell of burnt flesh never leaves you."

DrTardis89

16. "He came back to her home..."

"I work helping victims of violent crime. I have been doing this on a volunteer and professional basis in various capacities and locations for about ten years now. I have three cases that have given me what we call secondary trauma more than any others...
A woman went on a first date. He came back to her home with a gun and held her and her children hostage for three months. The physical and psychological trauma done to them was the worst I've ever seen."

Golden_apple6492

15. "Where they send the criminally insane..."

"I worked in forensic units, essentially where they send the criminally insane, I didn't see any bodies but worked with the people that created them.
One person was getting a divorce, one parent was using the others mental health (depression, but well managed, worked full time) to gain full custody and they could afford the better lawyer. They drowned all four of their kids at bath time in a psychotic break."

InsomniacEnglish

14. "The worst one she told about..."

"My mom was a state police forensic scientist and did the DNA for all sorts of horrific cases. Aside from the countless pedophiles and incest rapes, I think the worst one she told me about was a girl who gave birth in her bedroom, hid the baby in a box under the bed, and her dog proceeded to eat the baby. She didn't tell her parents she was pregnant because they were very religious and she was underage."

JennyHuhWhat

13. "A guy embezzled money and got busted for it..."

"We had one where a guy embezzled money from his bank and got busted for it. He tried to kill his family with carbon monoxide from the van but it didnt work. He finally takes a baseball bat and kills his wife and 4 kids, leaves a call to 911, then drives into a bridge support which kills him and lights his van on fire."

Indian****burn

12. "This story made national news..."

"I'm not an investigator, but my aunt is a detective for our local police force. This story made national news, but she worked on a case where a mother and her boyfriend were abusing their young daughter. They sexually abused her and would inject her with drugs to put her in a comatose state when she would fight back.

Eventually the mother's boyfriend raped and killed her with the mother's permission and they tried to hide the body by burning it in their bath tub. My aunt has been in the force for over 20 years and she said she's never seen true evil until she interrogated the mother after they were inevitably caught."

el_derpian

11. "When I got there, the remains were..."

"I remember when I was a grad student I was called by my supervisor to help consult on some human skeletal remains that had been discovered on a farm. When I got there the remains were of a child who had been hacked apart with an axe and had teeth impressions from a dog. May not sound terrible, I love my job, but children are for me the hardest to work on."

NastyOfficerFarquad

10. "He was reported to be seen on the ground..."

"15 year old decided to commit suicide on the freeway. It's still not 100% clear if he jumped off the overpass first, but he was reported to be seen on the ground on the freeway by the first person who called it in...who was also the 3rd car to hit him in a matter of minutes."

Brain_Sci3nc3s

9. "He asks where the baby is..."

"EMT. Get dispatched for vaginal bleeding. Arrive at the home to find a woman sitting in a pool of blood on her bedroom floor. Transport her to the hospital where the doc examines her. He asks where the baby is. What? He states this woman just had a baby. So they go back to the home with police and search the place. My coworker looks under the bed and sees a bowling ball bag. Opens the bag and finds the dead baby."

Flyingforme

8. "I'm an expert in work related incidents..."

"I'm an expert in work related incidents, and am hired to investigate accidents and incidents for large cooperations.

Two children fell down an elevator shaft on a building project.

Employee of manufacturer in the Pharmaceutical industry got his arm ripped off by a powder centrifuge.

Retired person was fatally hit by the coupling of a compressed air-hose after the hose broke."

RatherBWriting

7. "Started 'speaking to god'..."

"I do fire investigation and one that stuck with me was a likely mentally disturbed girl started 'speaking to god' at the dinner table and then that night lit her room on fire with her in it. I think about that one a lot"

Sillyblowfish

6. "The worst part was..."

"Gotta be the guy that stabbed his newborn and 4 year old before slitting his throat and jabbing the knife into his chest. The worst part was his phone on the bed with numerous texts from his fiancee and mom begging him to not harm the children."

T1K1

5. "That's up there for me..."

"A man decapitated his infant son with a samurai sword while high on PCP.

That's up there for me."

_L3g10n_

4. "Frantic scratch marks indicated they regretted the action..."

"Client committed suicide by connecting zip ties around neck and pulling. Frantic scratch marks indicated they regretted the action but could not cut the zip ties due to sharps restriction. Sharps restriction enforced due to recent morbid self mutilation.

Claw marks on neck and lack of oxygen to the brain was the saddest ive ever seen. The inability to say the individual died on their own terms is often the only bright side to any type of suicide i deal with."

bongo89s

3. "He was feeding her rocks..."

"Had a paranoid schizophrenic male who forced his elderly mother to eat rocks to the point where she died. He told Police that he was feeding her rocks to weigh her down so God couldn't take her yet."

Ejgee

2. "Cooked him like a stew..."

"A mildly over weight man had a heart attack and died on his waterbed, it broke and the sun heated the water (this is Arizona by the way) and cooked him like a stew"

GoogleWasMyIdea49

1. "It turned into a homicide..."

"Children's Protective Services worker here. We do forensic interviewing during our investigation so I'm counting myself in. I watched the autopsy of a two month old infant with suspected CoD of asphyxiation from regurgitating too much milk from being overfed. Turned into a homicide as they peeled back the infant's scalp to reveal a massive skull fracture and brain bleed from sharp blunt force trauma..."

SaggyDagger


If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.